The toughest two-game stretch of the season did not get out to the start Iowa soccer wanted, as the team lost 1-0 to No. 19 Rutgers. The loss brings Iowa’s record down to 12-3 overall (4-3 in the Big Ten).

Like in the Hawkeyes’ other losses, the team lost on a set piece. In the 29th minute, senior defender Amanda Visco scored off a set piece for the Scarlet Knights, with the assist coming from senior midfielder Taylor Aylmer.

“It’s just one same mistake that we keep on having with corner kicks and not being able to defend the post either,” senior captain and midfielder Isabella Blackman said. “It resulted in a goal, but we can definitely bounce back from this.”

Even with the loss, head coach Dave DiIanni did have praise for his team.

“I really liked how our kids played,” DiIanni said. “I thought their mentality was right. We asked them to compete and work hard and be brave on the ball. I thought we really did a nice job with that.”

DiIanni believes that the Scarlet Knights are a very difficult team to break down if a team can’t stop them in transition and thought that his team was too negative after turning the ball over in the first half. That changed in the second half.

In the second half, the Hawkeyes had five shots and four corner kicks, and some of those were close to getting in, such as one by sophomore defender Riley Whitaker in the last minute that just went over the crossbar.

Iowa’s next game is 1 p.m. Sunday against Maryland. The game will be senior day for the Hawkeyes, who have no time to dwell on this loss with another tough opponent ahead of them.

“I think the most important thing [for Sunday] is just learning from our mistakes,” senior captain and defender Hannah Drkulec said. “Looking at them and moving forward and knowing the best thing about this conference is knowing you have a game in three, four days after, so you can always bounce back.”